


The wound lived quietly

by Depths



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Altered Mental States, Gen, Light Angst, Link (Legend of Zelda) Needs a Hug, Mild Gore, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda), corrupted Link
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:40:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29375793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Depths/pseuds/Depths
Summary: “Draw the sword, Link,” The Deku Tree pleaded. “You would be healed if you would just draw the sword.”(corrupted/blight!Link AU)
Relationships: Great Deku Tree & Link (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 50





	The wound lived quietly

**Author's Note:**

> title is from "The Aeneid" trans. by David West

“Draw the sword, Link,” The Deku Tree pleaded. “You would be healed if you would just draw the sword.” 

Link didn’t show a sign that he had heard him at all.  His body festered like an open wound. What was left of his real skin looked sickly pale even in the warm, ethereal light of the forest.

The Deku Tree had a feeling the blight was beyond hearing words, much less understanding them.

The koroks gathered around his roots peered out cautiously at the knight. When before they would gather cheerfully around him, prying for his attention, now they hid. The gentle jingle of magic and music had faded to a solemn silence.

"Is Mr. Hero... okay?" One whispered. Their tiny voice, usually tinkling like chimes in the breeze, sounded suffocated and afraid. "Is it safe?"

"Will he hurt us?" Another whimpered.

What was Link–– No, no. It was still Link. If he looked closely, the Deku Tree swore he could see the glint of Link's blue eyes under the malice. See the twitch of his fingers for the sword. It was still him, somewhere in all that concentrated evil.

Link stood without moving. He remained in place, seemingly unaffected by the world around him. The malice caking his body squirmed about him like a mass of maggots, crawling its way over his skin, but he remained unmoving. The blue of his eyes, offset against the now-black of his sclera, flickered a glowing red like a dying candle. He wheezed as if buried under immense weight. Every breath audibly gurgled.

The koroks creeping steadily closer, ducking through the long grass, went unnoticed. There was barely a hitch in the fallen knight's breath to show he was aware of them at all.

The malice covered him. But it was not within him.

Not yet.

"Go ahead, my children," the Deku Tree said. "He will not hurt you. I will stop him if he tries." He was ancient. His sprawling roots and branches were not made to have the same kind of flexible agility available to Link (even corrupted as he was) or his children. But If Link made a move against the forest or its spirits… It would be his duty to contain him. At least hidden away here, in the alcove of the heart of the Lost Woods, he could not hurt, and he could not be hurt. 

The Master Sword pulsed longingly in her pedestal, a low crooning plea. The Deku Tree felt his leaves shudder with her grief. 

Link made no acknowledgment of her voice at all. 

The Deku Tree refused to let it shake him. He watched with a wary eye as his Koroks tiptoed closer, reaching slowly out. His sigh of relief, when the knight did nothing to protest their presence, ruffled the clearing with a warm breeze. The Koroks were careful without even needing to be reminded. Their playful nature gave way to tentative curiosity, tiny wooden hands poking gently into Link’s clenching and unclenching fists until he willingly curled his stiff fingers around them. 

The malice did not react to the Koroks. The Deku Tree watched, waited, magic coiling and tight, but the sickness clinging to his skin remained unchanging. 

...He doubted the same could be said for any Hylian that would be unfortunate enough to approach him. The Lost Woods was already nigh impenetrable, but he would likely need to take extra measures now. The royal family, the Sheikah people–– there was no telling the disaster that would follow if malice would manage to infect not only the hero of legend but also the  _ descendent of Hylia herself–– _

The Koroks led Link slowly around the clearing, chirping and tittering among themselves when he stumbled over roots and stray stones. Several of them squeaked and ducked into the winding safety of his roots when they got too close to the sword and Link  _ snarled _ loudly, baring his teeth. 

––Princess Zelda would not survive being infested the way Link currently was. Her body was a heavenly instrument itself; should she somehow be corrupted… Maybe her body would simply shut down, spare her the agony of struggling against the sickness. 

Maybe she  _ couldn’t _ be blighted. Maybe the infection would burn away in the face of her blood. Maybe Link could be healed by her presence, even unawakened to her potential as she was. 

(Maybe Link’s eyes would settle from flickering red and blue into malicious black and glowing gold. Maybe he would lunge for her, sword or no sword. Maybe he’d bare his teeth like a rabid animal again, maybe he’d  _ use _ them to––)

The Deku Tree kept his thoughts to himself. Still, he felt several of his children’s magic reach inquisitive tendrils towards the mouth of the Lost Woods when he raised a thick barrier of roots and vine. 

Their attention quickly leaped back to Link. The knight’s stagger hadn’t eased, movements stiff and jerky as if sticky with molasses, but he followed after the Koroks in slow, curious circles without much prompting. At Chio’s behest, the knight even awkwardly sat down in the grass, allowing the Koroks to gather loosely around him. Their chiming little voices gained confidence in the face of Link’s patient stoicism.

They reached out for him, questioning and small. The Deku Tree shifted uneasily. “Do not touch him so freely, my children,” He chided. “It would be… unpleasant, if the sickness clinging to him were to touch you.” 

Twinkling nervous laughter. The Koroks surrounding Link hopped floatily away, some of them tumbling clumsily into one another in small bursts of magic and the smell of fresh grass. The blight only blinked slowly, malice oozing down his cheek and dripping onto his lap when he tilted his head a twitch. Despite his warning, his children soon trickled closer to Link again, tugging at his fingers and patting the exposed patches of his hair and clothing. 

It made him unspeakably nervous, to see. But Link never reacted volatilely, and the Koroks had yet to have any of the illness soak into their wood. The sheer magical presence of the Forest seemed to combat the malice as it was. Not enough to heal Link–– not without the sword–– but enough, at the very least, to leave this place and its people clean. Where the malice drooled off of Link and into the grass, the Deku Tree could faintly make out tendrils of ash and smoke where it hissed and popped, withering into nothingness upon separating from Link’s body.

_ All the more reason to keep him here. _

“Chio,” The Deku Tree murmured, gaining his child’s attention. The older korok floated up, perching on the arching bends of his roots. “Should…  _ anyone _ choose to enter the Lost Woods with the intent to find this place… make sure they are unable to find their way. Douse the lanterns; shroud them from view if you must.” He shook himself lightly, somewhat comforted by the dappling light rippling through the clearing. “While the Hero is... incapacited, it is not safe for anyone other than spirits to come here. No Hylians. No Zora, or Gerudo, or Goron, or Rito. Should anyone but our children come home, lead them away.” 

Chio swayed in place, every nervous movement singing like a wind chime. “What about the Princess?” He asked hesitantly. “Malice would have no chance standing against the blood of the Goddess! Mr. Hero would get better in no time if she came, wouldn’t she?” 

Seated between his roots, Link twitched, looking up at him. The Deku Tree was still unsure exactly how much of the Hero’s mind remained intact, under the thick infestation of malice clinging to him–– unsure how much of words  _ really _ managed to pass through and process through the all-consuming white-noise of corruption. 

Red and gold bled into bright blue. Link’s pupils expanded and retracted, almost seeming to make his eyes seem to be flickering rapidly. The Knight’s shaking fingers ripped up handfuls of grass, startling the Koroks around him, as before their eyes his pupils settled on dim, slitted gold. 

His leaves shuddered. “We cannot risk it,” He said firmly. “Unawakened as she is… No, Chio. Let everyone know the new rules must include even the Princess with the blood of the Goddess. Be sure that Hestu hears as much as well.” 

Link was still staring. Every mention of the Princess seemed to make the malice  _ crawl _ on him. It gathered in uncomfortable looking clusters on the knight’s throat, his heart, his face. Eventually, the Koroks were able to tug his attention away, pulling him carefully to his feet and making more circles around the clearing–– never too close to the pedestal where the Sword slept. 

(Regardless, he could hear her keening cry. Her old magic pulsed like a broken heart with every step Link took.)

“Mushroom hunting,” His children sang, quiet but cheerful as always, “Let’s take Mr. Hero mushroom hunting!” 

“Firefly catching,” Another whispered. 

“Hide and seek in the Lost woods!” 

Link trailed after them, so docile and unthreatening as the forest children led him by the hand that the Deku Tree could almost ignore the miasma clouding the air from his breath. He didn’t even seem to notice when a pustule sprouted on the back of his neck, shaded under Link’s unraveling ponytail. 

Chio giggled anxiously. “I-I’ll go do that then!” He chirped. The Deku Tree vaguely registered the familiar puff of magic as his child vanished into the woods. His eyes remained steadfast on Link’s retreating back. 

The forming eye blinked innocently back at him. 

**Author's Note:**

> This has actually been on the back burner for like a month or two-- im obsessed with Corrupted/Blight Link AUs... and just loz corruption AUs in general. the Corrupted!Zelda ones are FANTASTIC. 
> 
> also this was originally gonna be for feral!au, but the Linked universe discord is using a February whump challenge and some of the prompts there REALLY fit for a corrupted au, which I felt I needed some personal groundwork in first. 
> 
> ...also I realized just now as I type this that I set myself up for a project just now as i meant for this to be the start of botw canon-- as in link emerged from the shrine of resurrection corrupted. But maybe I've been playing too much age of calamity bc I guess now this is Pre-Canon? 
> 
> I'll iron out the details later whoops! lmk what yall think.
> 
> As always, find me at [Leviathiane](https://leviathiane.tumblr.com) on tumblr!


End file.
